Popcorn warmer



Nov. 20, 1951 R. N. TAMSEN 2,575,643

POPCORN WARMER Filed April 5, 1948 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 INVENTOR.

JYazneZ Patented Now. 20, 1951 U N l T E D rsNr crimes POPCORN WARMER Rudolf-N. 'llamsen, lllilwaukee, W1s.-,.-;assignorto nnurdisnlanIncorporated, M lwa kee, W s-... corporation-of Wisconsin Application April-5, 1948, SerialNo. 18,961

4...Claims-. 1

This invention relates: torpopped corn'warming cabinets and it resides in an improved cabinet of this classm-which: an'innerpopped corn-warming container provided with warming air forcing means for forcing warming air through the popped corn is enclosed: in and. surrountiedby an outer cabinet spaced from the warming con.- tainer to. provide circulation passages throu h which air forcing meansv compel a circulation of air in contact withthe. cabinet. walls in addition to that circulation producedby the warmingair forcing means. for-the purpose ofpreventing formation ofcondensation oi volatile matter upon the cabinet walls.

In the retail dispensing of {popped com the practiceor popping the corn at: the point; of sale suffers the disadvantage. that-the popping: iaci-li' ties usually employed are small, and not subject to precise and careful regulation. Much, therefore, depends upon. the skill of theattendantin producing a popped corn ofhigh and uniform quality. Also, the; attendantis primary function of selling is hindered lay-the necessity. of attending to the popping "facilities. For these and other reasons attempts have been made to ;p1-'epare the popped corn in: large. central poppirg plants fromwhich it is distributed to; retail outlets. which dispense the; popped. cor-n iromcabinets.

In order that .thepopped com sodispensedbe palatable and possessed of the. characteristic crispnessand flavor which the trade demandsit is necessary that it, be warmed and. held at a crlspin .temperatureuntil the time of sale... Dis,- pensing. cabinets. used. for this purpose ar.e,..there.- fore, usually .eduipped with. electrical resistance Warmin .meansior maintaining the-desired temperature. In the. iormin which such Warming cabinets have here ofore. been. employe an. un-

desirable residue of condensed volatile matter derived from the corn becomes deposiledupon the interior Walls of the. cabinet and. this dep through rancidification and .fermentation ac.- quires a disagreeable odor which contaminates the corn.

.Itis the discovery of this invention thatii the popped corn is held inv a container through which the warming air is compelled to pass and this container is in turn enclosed within a cabinet spaced from the container and separate air toroing means compel. a secondary merging circulation of air in contact. with the cabinet. walls, the popped corn can be kept in the desired crisp condition without deposit of residue upon the follows and the drawings :forming a part hereof-in which there. is'set forth byway orxillustrationand not. of limitation oneform: in which a. popped corn 'warming cabinet of this. invention may be constructed In the drawin s:

Fig. 1-israirontview in elevation with parts broken-away and incsection of one :form in which the. popped corn warmingcab-inet of this; invention-may be constructed;

Fig; 2v isan; end View in-eleyation and -in.-sec: .tion of the. cabinet shown in His. '1 viewed through the plane.- 2+2: indicatedyin- Fig... .1, and

i 3' is a EQISDECCiVGJViGu/F --with par-ts broken aw y of the cabinet; shown in 1:.

Referring. now to. the drawings, the apparatus of this. invention, insthe form. there illustrated, is shown, made. u p of' an outer cabinet having and walls. LI and 2,.a baclrwall '3 :a to.p.4,.a bottom-. 5, a lower inclined front wall &- and an upper'inclined..-front wall :For display and other purposes the. upper front: wall 1: and-.the top .4" are preferably formed of glass; The. back wall 13' is provided with a. downwardly opening access-door 8: through which popped. cornxmay be withdrawn, a downwardly opening'accessv :door 19:"110: provide access to heater-elements: to: he: described hereinafter and removable panel 'l-0::to;provide. access to the lower-air-volume spaceof thev cabinet.

Mounted withinqand' enclosed by the cabinet is a poppedlcorn container madeup of a horizontal foraminousv containerufloor H with a sloping forward-portion it whiclri's held rigidly in :place at a level about: midway oi the heighti'of theacabinet; The popcorn .containeris completed byan inclined front wall "i=2 preferably composed of glass "for display?- purposes whiclfrextends. downwardly to join thesslopin.g v forward portion of :the door l'l atthewpoint it. By reason 'of'thi's construction and "the transparent nature of walls '1 and I2 the popped corn contained within the cabinet is: displayedto good advantage. Coop.- erat-ing withzthe vforaminous:floor t l and-the wall 12- is an inclined: hopper member to: which; serves to direct the-popped com iii-its downward. new to. a position where it. may be; easily scooped up by the attendant when the access door -9; is opened.

For-convenience in filling. the container-theftop 4; isv preferably hingedly attached as indicated Fig. 2 so that it may be raised-to facilitate the placing of popped corn within the container...

interior of the cabinet... The above and other 010- 5.5- Beneath the .ioraminous floor H 'andamounted upon a shelf I are a pair of electrical resistance bar heaters I6 connected by means not shown with a source of electric power. The shelf I5 is joined by a flange IT with the discharge throat of a motor driven air forcing blower I8 as appears more clearly in Fig. 2. In this manner the flange I! and the lower extension II of the floor I I cooperate to form an enclosure: which compels the air discharged by the blower IS to pass over the heaters I5 and from thence upwardly through the openings in the foraminous floor I I and into and through the popcorn held thereon. -Torender the distribution of heated air delivered to the popcorn more uniform a horizontal baliie I9 occupies a position directlyabove the heaters It as shown.

The air delivered by the blower I3 is drawn from the lower part of the cabinet and passes upwardly as indicated by the dotted line arrows in Fig. 2 to the upper part of the cabinet where it enters the tops of return ducts and 2| disposed against the end walls I and 2 of the cabinet.

The return ducts 22 and 2I are closed by screens at'their upper ends to prevent loose corn from being accidentally dropped into the lower part of the cabinet. In this way a continuous circulation of warming air is compelled to pass through the corn keeping it at a crisping temperature.

In order to prevent deposit of undesirable resi dues upon the interior of the walls of the cabinet a pair of air-forcing, motordriven'blowers 22 is located in the lower part of the cabinet and connected by means of diverging throats 23 and 24 with the space between the upper front wall "I of the cabinet and the wall I2 of the popcorn container.

The stream of air propelled by the blowers 22 is drawn from the lower part of the cabinet as shown by the unbroken arrows in Fig. 2 and is forced upwardly through the space between walls I and I2, as previously described. The stream then flows across the lower face of the top 4 of the cabinet while merging with the warming air stream whereupon it"divides and enters the return ducts 20 and 2| through which it passes to the lower part of the cabinet for recirculation. To a certain extent this circulation mingles with the warming air circulation which passes through the popcorn with the result that the temperature of the stream circulated by the blowers 22 becomes raised. Since there is little resistance to the circulation produced by the blowers 22 and since substantially greater forcing effect is produced by the two blowers 22, the stream of air compelled thereby moves at a rate greatly in excess of the rate of the warming air which is passed through the poped corn. This high rate of flow together with the increased temperature produces a condition at the surface of the interior walls of the cabinet which inhibits deposits of undesirable residues If desired, and for the purpose of giving a visual indication of the functioning of the cabinet wall circulation, small particles of material of low density preferably simulating poped corn granules such as are indicated at 25 may be placed within the diverging throats 23 and 24 from whence they will be repeatedly thrown upwardly by the air stream into the space between the transparent walls I and I2 where the motion of the same may be easily observed.

For the convenience of the attendant the space between the shelf I5 is enclosed by the wall 25 and the sub-shelf 27, to provide storage space Within which bags, boxes or other containers may be stored. The space between the shelves I5 and I1 is preferably made accessible by an unclosed opening 28 in the back wall 3.

The heating elements It and the blower I8 are preferably joined by electrical connections not shown through a single switch with a source of electric power so as to avoid the excessive temperature condition Which might prevail if the heaters I6 were operated without the circulation produced by the blower I8. The blowers 22, if desired, may also be connected to start to operate simultaneously with the blower I8 and the heaters I6.

In operation a charge of popped corn is placed upon the floor II by introducing the same through the removable top 4 and filling to a point above the level of the hopper member I4. The heating element I6 and the blowers I8 and 22 are then energized. Air discharged by the blower I8 is drawn from the lower part of the cabinet and discharged toward the heater I6 from whence it flows around the baflie I9, passes upwardly through the popped corn reposing upon the floor I I heating it to a crisping temperature. As soon as the popped corn reaches crisping temperature it is ready to be served.

The air passing through the corn to a certain extent causes evaporation of moisture and other volatile constituents of the corn. Since the volume of air thus charged with volatile constituents is small, contact of the same with the cabinet walls would be insufficient to raise the temperature of the walls materially. To prevent condensation which would ensue on this account a larger volume of air is drawn from the lower part of the cabinet by the blowers 22 and passed in contact with the cabinet walls in the manner described. This stream of larger circulation is cnntinuallv m r ed with and divided from the higher temperature stream passing through the corn. thus causing the blended stream to attain a somewhat elevated tem erature. Continual passage of this larger stream in contact with the cabinet walls has a sufiicient warmin effect to raise the temperature of the walls sufi niently so t at little or no condensation of volatile constituents u on the cabinet walls occ rs. In t is wav deposits having a tendency to become rancid or fermented are a oided and a s eet and whnlesome condition within the cabinet is maintained. Also. volatile flavor constituents of the corn. which if continuallv remo ed and. deposite unon the abinet walls would im air the nalatab eness of the no med corn. are ma ntained in s stantial concentration in the air stream contacting the popped corn ith the result that the rate of lossof such constituents from the corn is substantially diminished. As a result, corn maintained within the cabinet retains a pleasant, palatable condition closely resembling that of freshly popped corn.

I claim:

1. In a popcorn warming apparatus the combination comprising a cabinet, a horizontal foraminous floor disposed midway between the top and bottom of said cabinet dividing the same into upper and lower portions, said foraminous floor being adapted to support a body of popcorn disposed thereon, heating means beneath said floor, a first air forcing means disposed below said heating means adapted to draw air from the lower part of said cabinet and compel the movement of the same over said heating means and through said foraminous fioor into the upper part of said cabinet, a vertical return passage within said cabinet extending from a point above said foraminous fioor to a point below the same, said return passage being open to receive air discharged into the upper part of said cabinet and to return and discharge the same into the lower part of said cabinet, an upwardly extending container wall joined with said foraminous floor and spaced inwardly from the inner surface of said cabinet to form a circulation channel extending from the lower part of said cabinet to the upper part of said cabinet, and second air forcing means adapted to compel an upward circulation of air in said circulation channel.

2. In a popcorn warming apparatus the combination comprising a cabinet, a foraminous floor within said cabinet, a first air forcing means disposed beneath said foraminous fioor in air forcing relationship thereto adapted to compel movement of air from beneath said foraminous floor upward and through said floor, air heating means disposed within the movement of air from beneath said foraminous floor upward and through said floor, a return passage within said cabinet extending from a point above said foraminous floor to a point below the same, a partition wall joined with said foraminous floor and spaced inwardly from the wall of said cabinet forming a circulation channel extending from beneath said foraminous floor to a point above said foraminous floor, and a second air forcing means disposed in air forcing relationship to said circulation channel adapted to compel a circulation of air upwardly through said channel.

3. In a popcorn warming apparatus the combination comprising a cabinet, a foraminous floor within said cabinet dividing the same into an upper part and a lower part, a first air-forcing means disposed beneath the foraminous floor positioned to receive air from the lower part of said cabinet, a first duct joined with the discharge of said first air-forcin means and with the lower side of said floor adapted to compel movement of air from beneath said foraminous floor upwardly and through said floor, a second duct extending from the upper part to the lower part of said cabinet to complete a primary recirculation channel extending from the lower part to the upper part of said cabinet and returning through which channel air is propelled by said first air-forcing means, air heating means disposed in said primary recirculation channel exposed in heating relation to the air stream passing therethrough, a partition wall spaced inwardly from the wall of said cabinet forming a third duct extending from beneath said foraminous floor to a point above said foraminous fioor and forming with said second duct a secondary recirculation channel extending from the lower part of the cabinet to the upper part thereof and returning without passage through said floor, and a second air forcing means disposed in air forcing relationship to said secondary recirculation channel adapted to compel a circulation of air therethrough and up wardly through said third duct.

4. In an apparatus for warming dry food stuff the combination comprising a cabinet having upwardly extending walls, a top and a forami nous floor; a first air-forcing means; a first air conveying passage joining said first air-forcing means with the lower face of said foraminous floor adapted to confine air delivered by said first air-forcing means and cause the same to be propelled upwardly through said foraminous floor; air heating means disposed in said first air conveying passage adapted to heat air conveyed therethrough; a partition Wall within said cabinet disposed adjacent a wall thereof extending upwardly from the fioor and terminating below the top of said cabinet forming a channel for passage of air in contact with said adjacent cabinet wall; a second air-forcing means; a sec-' ond air conveying passage, separate from the first, joining said second air-forcing means with the lower end of said channelformed by said partition and cabinet walls adapted to confine air delivered by said second air-forcing means to cause the same to be propelled upwardly through said channel; and an air escape passage opening from said cabinet connected to the air input entrances of said first and second air-forcing means to provide for a recirculation of air through said first and second air conveying passages and through said cabinet.

RUDOLF N. TAMSEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,648,005 Pritchard Nov. 8, 1927 2,005,501 Kelly June 18, 1935 2,188,708 Davis Jan. 30, 1940 2,423,342 Pinanski July 1, 1947 2,458,190 Newburger Jan. 4, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 336,679 Great Britain Oct. 20, 1930 

